2011
The big events for 2011 will be heading out to the West side of Vancouver Island, British Columbia to visit Barclay Sound. Perhaps even doing a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island. For NW boaters this is a true test of your boat and your boating skills. The coast is rugged and unforgiving. The weather can be nasty for long periods of time with strong winds, big waves, fog, and long distances between anchorages. Not many boaters head to the west side of Vancouver Island. Those who do journey to the wild side of Vancouver come back with a great sense of accomplishment, and some bragging rights amongst fellow boaters.
2012
2012 will see us finalizing the boat getting it ready for it's big trip. We will be adding a water maker (which converts sea water into pure drinking water), laundry facilities, improved refrigeration including a big freezer, an autopilot, some sort of anchor stabilization to control the rock and roll of the boat while at anchor, larger bilge pumps, more engine instrumentation and alarm systems, a long range radio system known as SSB (think HAM radio for boaters), and more. We will be testing and fine tuning these systems throughout 2012. All of this will be in preparation for the big year, which will be.....
2013
In 2013 we are planning the BIG TRIP. We will leave our protected inland waters and head out to the ocean and go south down the west coast to spend and externded time exploring The Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California) in Mexico. Our current plan is to spend 1 year, perhaps longer, getting to know Baja, learning to speak Spanish, enjoying the simple life by disconnecting from the hustle and bustle of modern life, becoming a closer family unit, and getting to know ourselves as individuals better. Oh, and also to enjoy boating in warm air and water. We hope it will be the highlight of our adult lives, and our children's lives with us.
We will home school the kids (probably enrolling them in the Calvert School curriculum Calvert School Website.) We want to do this trip before the kids are too old and involved in too many activities in La Conner. We want them to truly enjoy the experience without feeling like we are dragging them away from too much back home. In talking to many other families that have done this sort of thing, we realistically have until about age 12 or 13 before the kids resent leaving home for a year. Prior to that age, most families have an absolutely tremendous time together and I've heard over and over that it has been the best family experience imaginable. In 2013 Kevin will be 8 years old and Cindy will have just turned 11. 2013 is the best year for us to do this. I'm sure we will have plenty of friends come down to visit us while in Mexico, which will be great fun.
The best time to depart San Diego and transit the 700 mile long Mexican coast is after Halloween when the hurricane season has ended. We will leave Washington sometime in September 2013 and take our time getting to San Diego. There are a lot of interesting ports to see in the 1200 miles of Washington, Oregon, and California coast. For the past several years various San Diego yacht clubs have organized a semi-annual "rally" of powerboaters to make the San Diego to Cabo San Lucas journey together. They call this semi-annual rally the "Fubar" Odyssey. FUBAR is an acronym for Fleet Underway to BAja Rally. The word is that there will be an event in 2013 hosted by the Newport Beach Yacht Club. If this event does happen as planned in 2013 we will join that group of 50 or so powerboaters to make the trip down the outside of the Mexican coast. Here's the past few years of the FUBAR rallies and the upcoming 2011 rally.
Click here for 2007 Fubar
Click here for 2009 Fubar
Click here for 2011 Fubar
2014 (and beyond)
A summer-long trip to Alaska is also in our future, but definitely after the year in Mexico. 3-4 months would be enough time to really see Alaska and British Columbia. We want to wait until the kids are old enough to appreciate the beauty that they will see. Perhaps we will do this in 2015, 2016, or 2017.
We also want to spend some time in the Broughton Islands, near the north end of Vancouver Island. It is supposed to be beautiful.
Perhaps after the kids head off to college we will again attempt an extended cruise (1+ years). Who knows if we will even be interested in boating anymore by that time, or if we can even afford it!
About Us
- The Elston Family
- Kathy and Steve began boating in the San Juan's not long after getting married (17 years ago). We have actively explored the San Juan Islands, the Canadian Gulf Islands, Princess Louisa Inlet and Desolation Sound. We didn't let the arrival of our first child, Cindy, keep us from our desire to be on the water. In fact, we brought Cindy with us on our boat trip to Alaska when she was just 10 months old. When Kevin was born two years later we started thinking about a larger vessel to carry our family of four to new adventures. We upgraded to a 45' Bayliner Pilothouse we named "Synergy", and it proved to be the perfect boat for us. But our plans have changed and we are now determined to take off for a year or more to head south to relaxing Mexico. The Sea of Cortez to be specific. Making a trip like that takes a boat designed to head offshore. After looking at many, many different boats, we found the boat for us. A Hatteras 48 LRC (Long Range Cruiser). We are now in the process of outfitting her for our great adventure. Our children absolutely love boating and seldom want to return to the dock when a trip is over. Steve now holds a US Coast Guard 50-ton Master's License.